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Summoning is a members-only combatskill that focuses on calling familiars from the Spirit Plane by creating and using summoning pouches. Wolf Whistle acts as an introduction to the skill, even though it is not required to start the skill. Each familiar has a unique ability that requires a Summoning scroll, made from a corresponding pouch, to use. Familiars have a wide variety of uses, from fighting in combat to carrying items to providing invisible boosts to other skills.

The current minimum requirement to be ranked (at approximately rank 642,359) on the hiscores for Summoning is level 15. As of 16 August 2018, there are 144,434 current members that have achieved level 99 in Summoning. There are 7,520 current members that have achieved level 120 in Summoning.

Summoning operates similarly to Prayer, requiring points to summon familiars and utilise their abilities. Summoning points do not automatically recharge, but they can be recharged by interacting with a large or Small Obelisk, or by drinking a summoning or Super restore potion.

Getting started

A good option is to start by doing the Wolf Whistle quest since you will reach a summoning level of 4 after it. However, you can start training summoning without completing the quest.

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For many centuries now, the druids of Taverley and some of the ogre shamans of Gu'Tanoth have been bringing various familiars from other realms to help them with a variety of their tasks. Of course, the druids being peaceful and the ogres being more 'business-like', they traditionally summon entirely different familiars - what would a druid want with a rune minotaur, for example? What would an ogre do with a unicorn stallion?

Having realised how useful this skill is to the adventurers of RuneScape, they have released the secret of their powers, and now you can enjoy the curious advantages that come with learning the art of Summoning.

Summoning works by 'infusing' the essence of a creature from a strange realm into a type of pouch. When the Summoning pouch is opened, a portal is briefly activated to pull the familiar through to the world of RuneScape, where it is bound to serve its master for a period of time before the portal closes and it is pulled back.

It has been revealed by Pikkupstix, when you reach Level 99 Summoning, that the place where your Familiars hail from has never been part of Gielinor, yet is nevertheless part of our lives every day. Familiarisation allows you to access this realm, known, as the Spirit Plane, for limited amounts of time, where you and a Familiar can hunt for raw shards. Other races than the druids, ogres, and now the humans, appear to possess some knowledge of Summoning; for instance, the Elf Warrior drops charms, hinting that the art is known to the Elven race as well.

Familiars

The spiritual magic circle that appear when you summon a familliar of the Spirit Plane

Familiars are creatures that players may summon in order to help them with various tasks. The familiars have many different abilities, from boosting skills to aiding you in combat. All familiars have a special move which can be activated with Summoning scrolls. Only one familiar can be summoned at a time, and must be dismissed before another can be summoned.

In order to summon a familiar, players must use the "Summon" option on a Summoning pouch. Summoning familiars costs summoning points (similar again to Prayer points). While a familiar is out, summoning points will be slowly drained until they reach 0, again similar to prayer. The familiar does not disappear when the points reach 0, but any right-click abilities will be unavailable until the summoning points are recharged. Summoning points must be recharged at a Summoning Obelisk or by using Summoning potions or Super restore potions.

Players can talk to their familiars if they have at least 10 or more summoning levels above the required level to summon that familiar, (e.g. a spirit wolf can be understood at level 11) with some exceptions, such as minotaurs. Because the level cap at 99 and various other reasons, some familiars cannot be understood. (all summoning familiars requiring level 90+ summoning)

The Chocatrice that could be commanded during the 2008 Easter event is one of the only three creatures that could be controlled by non-member players.

Eek! the spider, which could be obtained by doing the 2009 Halloween event, can also be controlled by a non-member.

The Spirit Wolf is considered the signature familiar as it is the icon for the Summoning skill.

Special abilities

Each familiar has a different special ability that they are able to use. Some are accessed by talking, using the familiar's special button, right clicking a familiar for another option, or simply summoning them.

These familiars will fight alongside a player, and have combat levels similar to regular creatures. Until a recent update, a player had to be actively fighting and taking damage for his or her familiar to fight; but now it is possible to safespot with Ranged or Magic, and still have your familiar fight.

These familiars can either temporarily raise your level in a given skill, or provide an 'invisible' boost that is always active. If that stat has already been raised by a potion the skill boost will not work. Invisible skills boosts do not allow the player to perform an activity above their level; they simply help the player in increasing the efficiency of their activity at their current level.

The Ancient Cavern pier entrance. You cannot jump off the pier if a familiar is summoned. Familiars are allowed inside the cavern itself, and players can summon them there or bring them with them when using the fairy ring network or teleporting to Kuradal using a Ferocious ring.

Pouches

Summoning pouches are used to summon familiars. The creation of a pouch is relatively simple: it is created by infusing the appropriate items in your backpack at a Summoning Obelisk which can then be summoned using the pouch. A pouch is used up when a familiar is summoned, and it is not restored when the familiar is dismissed.

Scrolls

Summoning scrolls are required to perform a familiar's special move. The special moves the scrolls can perform vary widely and are tied to the familiar. You must have the familiar summoned that the scrolls are tied to in order to use them. Using a scroll does not use any summoning points. Instead, it uses Summoning spell points. Players must have enough points on the spell point bar to perform the action.

Scrolls are created by converting charged familiar pouches into scrolls at a Summoning obelisk. One pouch can be converted into 10 scrolls that are tied to the familiar the pouch was fused with.

Pets

Pets are animals that follow you all around RuneScape and are purely for decorative/entertainment purposes - with the exception of the broav, which plays a part in While Guthix Sleeps, the Saradomin owl and the Zamorak hawk, which both provide protection from respective factions in the God Wars Dungeon, and the platypus, which can be used to obtain caskets. They are very similar to pet cats, which can be obtained from the Gertrude's Cat quest. The differences are that you have to continue feeding your summoning pets after 100% growth, and pet cats require stroking to keep them from running away, whereas summoning pets do not.

Armour

Experience boosting set (Shaman's outfit)

The Shaman's outfit is acquired via Treasure Hunter, starting with a promotion on the Squeal of Fortune from 16 to 26 August 2013. Each piece grants 1% bonus Summoning experience when worn. When all of the pieces of the set are worn, a 1% set bonus is added, providing a total bonus of 6%.

Locations

Summoning shops

Pet shops

Pet shops exist in Yanille and Taverley. Players can buy pets and pet food at these stores, but only certain pets (as you get a cat from Gertrude in Varrock after completing Gertrude's Cat).

Summoning obelisk

Summoning obelisks (as opposed to mini obelisks) are fully charged with summoning energy and can be used to recharge Summoning points. They can also be used to infuse pouches and scrolls. See Summoning points and infuse pouches and scrolls the main article for a list of their locations.

Mini obelisks are partially-charged with summoning energy and may be used to recharge summoning points, but not to infuse pouches or scrolls. They have many locations, such as Edgeville or even, if the player has the required Construction level and materials, in a player's POH. For a complete list, please go to the main article.

Treasure Hunter

Temporary boosts

Temporary boosts for Summoning work differently than for most other skills. Creating and summoning familiars is tied to the absolute skill level, rather than the current skill level, so a boost will not enable a player to create a pouch or summon a familiar at a higher level. For instance, if a player has level 76 Summoning and eats a pork pie (+5 boost), that player will not be able to create Fire Titan pouches (Level 79) or summon Fire Titan familiars. These boosts can be used to restore summoning points if the player is far from an obelisk, and they can be used to meet effigy requirements, but otherwise serve little purpose. In addition, a Summoning boost will remain until the excess Summoning points are drained.

The Powerup (skill) tile in the Clan Citadel battlefield can be configured to boost Summoning anywhere from -10 to +10, or -10% and +10%. Like other Summoning boosts, this cannot be used to summon familiars that have requirements above the player's current level, and only affects Summoning points. As this is up to a +10 boost, this can be very useful for effigies. This boost disappears when the player leaves the Clan Battlefield.

Advanced pulse cores can confer a 7 level boost to Summoning (and all combat skills) upon being used up, but it is not guaranteed that players will receive this buff from the pulse core, and it is not available to ironmen.

Using the 'Boost' option on a Summoning cape boosts the wearers Summoning level by 1.

Eating a Musaberry will boost Summoning by 2 levels, but will also reduce Defence by 1. These can stack in the player's inventory and require 86 Farming to grow.

It is also possible to obtain a Summoning boost during Ritual of the Mahjarrat when touching the Stone of Jas. Since Summoning points, like Prayer points, do not regenerate or wear off with time, this boost lasts even after finishing the quest until a familiar is summoned and points drain below one's Summoning level or until one's character dies.

Travelling

Cape of Accomplishment

Once a player has mastered the skill and reached level 99, Pikkupstix (in Taverley) will sell them a Summoning cape. Refer to the Capes guide for more details. Because Summoning takes many other combat skills to raise, untrimmed capes are very rare. Before the Bonus Experience Weekend, very few players had obtained an untrimmed Summoning cape, however several players managed to obtain the untrimmed cape during the event.

Second batch of Summoning familiars released, timer was changed to a set amount of time per pouch, familiar abilities were boosted, combat familiars now gave combat experience, charm drops added to more monsters, headdresses released.

A new screen was implemented (the one shown above). A player reaches it by right clicking on the Summoning icon and choosing Follower Details. The only difference is that now a player can choose for their follower to attack a selected target, as well as being able to configure what happens when the icon is clicked.

We've added a toggle option to the Summoning pouch/scroll creation interface, so you can view either all possible pouches/scrolls that can be made or only those you're currently carrying the tertiary component for. This should make things easier for those who already know what pouches/scrolls they are planning to make. The option you choose will persist between logins.

"We've made a significant change to the way Summoning pouches are made. Now, pouches, shards, charms and tertiary ingredients can be combined anywhere to make uncharged pouches. You can then take these to an obelisk to render them usable, and to earn your Summoning XP. This will ease up much of the inventory wrangling once necessary to train and use this important skill. You'll also start to see spirit gems appearing in the game as drops. These can be used to store uncharged pouches (5, 10 or 20, depending on whether it's a spirit sapphire, emerald or ruby), making runs to the obelisk even more efficient. The stats of several Summoning familiars have been overhauled."

Along with Mobilising Armies, the update on 8 July2009 moved all the functions of the Summoning tab to the Summoning icon near the mini-map. Jagex cited the fact that it was only accessible some of the time as the reason for the change.

During A Void Dance, if you talk to Jessika about what she studies, she will reveal that there are two types of summoning; Arcane and Druidic summoning. Druidic summoning is the skill players can learn, while arcane summoning is likely the branch of magic that Wizard Grayzag and Evil Dave study.

Before the graphical updates, there was a Summoning icon and what level you are even if you are F2P. This is no longer valid.

Until 7 February2012, Beasts of Burden were unable to carry any untradeable item, but this was changed on that date to allow them to carry untradeable potions and potion flasks.

The Summoning skill was significantly revamped on 3 December2013, with the addition of Uncharged Summoning pouches, which must first be created before imbuing a pouch, and a buff to the stats of all combat familiars. 2 weeks later, the change was reverted in response to player feedback.

When a familiar is sent away temporarily (such as in highly populated locations like the Grand Exchange), they are transported to a cage near the candlelight random event.